


Watching you || Extremis

by americanfightpuppy



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Based on a fanvideo, Eventually happy ending I promise, Loads of Angst, M/M, Strange is a good bro, Tony is a sad cinnamonroll, computer tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-04 10:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10274684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanfightpuppy/pseuds/americanfightpuppy
Summary: When tony finds himself trapped, he is all too eager to get out. But then he finds himself in a trickier situation then expected, and the tables turn for the worse. What is Tony supposed to do when he realises his physical body has died, and his conscious transferred into a computer?Fanfiction based on an amazing fanvideo, made by Firenstone on Youtube!Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sG3Eql5pekFirenstone: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK84FTcZ5AwdY2j-p-uaRSw





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [firenstone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firenstone/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Watching you || Extremis AU || Stony || Steve/Tony](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/274094) by Firenstone. 



An irritating, loud alarm blasted into Tony’s ear. It roared through his ear drums and caused an unpleasant sting in the front of his head. A headache that forced him to wake up despite the overwhelming exhaustion that had been keeping him quiet before. 

He shook his head a bit and pressed his eyes shut tightly, trying to block it out and failing in his attempt. The obnoxious sound came from right beside both ears, and was obviously not going to stop anytime soon. Not on its own.

Tony blinked his eyes open, bright light shining straight into his pupils. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to it.

‘Alright, kill the alarm, I got it.’

The brunet focused his still blurry gaze on the blinking lights in front of him, taking in the emergency messages. Notifications of program and system failures, warnings of his basic life systems being offline. 

Why was he in his armour?

Tony groaned quietly, faint pain flowing through his entire body. He had no memory of getting into the suit, let alone a reason for using it in the first place and flying out to where ever it was he had apparently passed out. 

The alarm kept going, and it didn’t help his throbbing headache. 

‘Turn off the alarm!’ Tony spoke louder, the impatience and agitation he felt detectable in his voice despite his attempt of staying calm. This time, the alarm turned off as requested, but instead of relieve, Tony felt an unnerving sensation in his lower stomach, as he somehow had the impression that it wasn’t Jarvis who had turned the alarm off, but rather the suit’s automatic voice recognition system reacting to his request.

‘Where are we, upstate?’ He asked, still in a daze from waking up after being presumably knocked unconscious. At least, the dull pain in his head was hinting at that possibility. 

There was no response. Tony looked at the screen in confusion, his body tensed up at the absence of any sort of reply from his AI.

‘Jarvis?’ He asked, anxiety somewhat cracking his voice. Why wasn’t he responding? The suit had power, there were messages displaying right in front of his face. The AI was programmed into every system that operated the armour, and had access to every springlock and joint if he so wished. He could have full control over the armour if Tony requested as such. As long as the suit was online, no matter in what state that might be, Jarvis was supposed to be available. So gaining no response to his question, no sarcastic comment or any sign of presence, scared Tony more than he would ever admit.

The speakers were working. The alarm had proved that. Main system was online, otherwise the emergency messages wouldn’t have been displayed on the HUD. 

Jarvis was gone.

Tony breathed in sharply and pressed his eyes shut. He tried to think, tried to remember what had happened and maybe find an explanation as to why his most trusty friend was not here with him when he was supposed to be. But he got nothing. His mind was empty and felt like an empty slot where he simply missed a huge chunk of memory. 

‘Open the suit.’ Tony spoke, voice lacking any confidence. His eyes scanned the HUD in front of him one last time before the face plate lifted up and he was surprised by snow swirling down on his cheeks. His breath caught in his throat and he waited a few seconds before the entire suit was finally open as it took way longer than it should have. He sat up and rubbed his face with both hands, pulling them down and finding bloody smears on his fingers. His eyes widened a little and he opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Instead, he pressed his hands in the snow beside him, closing his eyes. The coldness of the snow felt pleasant on his skin, and somewhat helped him force the panic out of his brain.

‘This has to be a nightmare. This isn’t real. This is…’ Tony’s voice faded and he pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms on them and burying his face in the rough fabric of the undersuit. He had to think this through.

‘Prove or exclude the probability of this being a dream.’ He whispered, pulling his head up. He felt faint pain throughout his entire body, felt the cold snow between his fingers and the breeze blowing through his hair. He’d heard the alarm blasting into his ears, heard his own voice, the crackling of the snow as he moved his fingers. He smelled the fresh air of the forest he was in, the trees, the metal scent of the armour and the dull, distinctive smell of his undersuit. His eyes took in the white landscape around him, the trees that interrupted the white blanket and his own physical features, which were sturdy and unchanging. All of his senses worked perfectly, and nothing looked unreal or changed if he closed and opened his eyes or looked away. 

It wasn’t a dream.

Tony pushed himself to his feet and stepped out of the armour and into the snow, inhaling deeply. Fresh air. Exactly like how you’d expect it in a forest. 

‘Excluded.’ Tony breathed quietly, looking down at his armour. If it wasn’t a dream, it meant he was real and physically there, in the snowy landscape, with nothing but a thin undersuit and a defective suit of armour. He had to move if he didn’t want to freeze to death.

As he was about to move, Tony was suddenly hit with the deep realisation of how much this situation resembled the time when Jarvis had saved his ass from drowning and then flown his unconscious body to Tennessee during the time he was still dealing with the Mandarin. The brunet froze up and turned around slowly, anxiety crawling up his spine as he glanced at the tree right behind the armour. He flinched and his eyes widened as he stared straight at the cord that was nonchalantly draped at its roots, covered in snow and almost invisible. 

Just like it had been in Tennessee. 

‘What the…?’ Tony muttered, jerking his head up and rotating on his heels. 

Only then everything started looking familiar to him. He had been in this situation before.

How was this possible? Coincidences happened, but this? This was a reproduction of that day he regretted to remember, aside from Jarvis not being there. The day he hadn’t been able to keep Pepper safe and the day he was betrayed by someone he was once so close with. This seemed to be a returning concept in Tony’s life, now that he was thinking about it.

Tony pressed his hand to the closest tree around him and leaned into it, moving his hand through his hair. He had to figure out what was going on. If it wasn’t a dream, then what could it be? Was someone messing with him, and forcing him to relive this dreadful day? Was he thrown back in time- which he honestly wouldn’t look up from after all that he had witnessed in the last decennia- and was forced to relive everything that had happened after that day? 

He shook his head. No, he couldn’t do that. He didn’t want to. It was way too painful. Tony had been happy when he’d finally been able to put an end to this shitty period in his life. Had been able to find peace with it and was even on his way of forgetting all the horrible things that had happened to him. Appreciate the few good things, and even the bad things that had eventually led to what was now good in life. What he couldn’t life without.

Steve.

Tony’s gaze jerked up and he felt his heart sink. 

Steve. 

If it was true, if Tony was supposed to just relive everything from this moment until his last memory from ‘the present’, he’d have to copy and redo everything he’d done, all the decisions and actions he now knew were bad and would come back to bite him in the ass. His failing relationship with Pepper and the months it took to fully rebuild their friendship and trust, and of course, all the fights and discussions he’d had with Steve. The Civil War, Rhodey’s injury and the time it took for him to recover and the awkward months after Steve and the rest of ‘Team Cap’ were finally allowed back into the country. 

Tony could say with a hundred percent certainty that if this was the case, he would not have the patience to fully copy his past actions with his knowledge of the aftermath of every decision and action. 

He also knew that what would hurt the most was the everyday reminder that he didn’t have Steve yet, wouldn’t have for years to come, and this was almost unbearable to think of. Steve was such an important part in his life, someone he’d slowly learned to depend on so deeply. Having to give up the trust and faith he’d had in him, yet still having to see him every day as nothing but a rival? That was torture.

He would try. Of course he would. But Tony was also aware that it would probably not work out well for him if he’d have to drag himself through every day for a second time, knowing he was still nowhere near getting Steve back. Plus having to relive all these horrible days he’d experienced in the past and how much he’d suffered through them on his own would definitely not help. 

He was afraid that he would break halfway through, tear up and kiss Steve before they would even be in the awkward-tension period. Before any feelings really started to develop. Steve would not appreciate it, Tony knew damn well he was all about consent in both giving and receiving, and it would make their relationship a different kind of awkward and full of tension. The bad kind. It would probably lead to Steve avoiding Tony, maybe even disliking him, and it would ruin the future Tony had build with Steve in his ‘original’ timeline. He’d be left with nothing. No Pepper, No Steve; nobody. 

Tony glanced at the armour, tears in the corner of his eyes, and sighed.

‘No. I can’t let that happen.’ He whispered, shaking his head and stumbling over to it. He wasn’t even sure if that was actually the case. But in the moment, a lot of factors did hint to that possibility.

Tony would do anything for Steve, and if that meant reliving one of the shittiest moments in his life?

Than so be it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's interpretation of the situation is harshly thrown out of the window when the voice of his AI Friday suddenly starts speaking around him, and Tony has to figure out what is going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late, but finals are approaching faster than should be legal, and while I'm kind of freaking out, I'm also actively ignoring reality. I have not got my life together whatsoever. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! This one sort of has the same idea as the first one, but I promise chapter three will have some shock factors in it. ///Angsstttt/////
> 
> Bear with me here. I write as much as I can, but I'm also sort of a perfectionist, meaning that I constantly bug my beta as well because I'm almost never happy with my writing and I find it hard to just decide like Okay NOW it is ready. I really hope the waiting is worth it though.

 ‘I can feel the fear that you carry around.’

 Tony stopped in his tracks. His head jerked up and he glanced around at the unexpected female voice. He didn’t remember this happening the first time.

 There was nobody around, only trees and snow. The voice had sounded exactly the way Jarvis’ voice used to sound when he was in his workshop, and the AI was speaking to him. But that was impossible. He was in the middle of a forest and there were no speakers around for miles aside from the speakers inside the suit, and those were not strong enough- or even remotely build- to sound the way the voice had done. The speakers in the suit were built for Tony to hear and not to be heard by a crowd.

 But Tony suddenly recognised the voice, out of nowhere, and the realisation felt like an actual punch to the gut. His gaze moved down and his shoulders dropped.

 ‘Friday.’ He breathed helplessly, feeling at loss with the newly acquired information. This completely messed with his interpretation of the situation.

‘I wish there was something I could do to help you let go of it because, if you could,’ Tony remembered having this conversation with the AI, and knew exactly what she was going to say, ‘I don’t think you’d feel so alone anymore.’

 

* * *

 

 

 It had been a month since ‘’the Civil War’’, as the press had called it, and Tony’s physical and mental health had visibly been going downhill. His PTSD had been haunting him substantially, with an increasing amount of panic attacks and guilt-ridden days he’d locked himself away in his workshop. He avoided everyone around him, didn’t come out of his safe place for anything, and had food brought down every day. The only person that was allowed into the workshop was Rhodey, who, at the time, had been working on his recovery. But whenever he tried to talk to Tony about his ‘lone gunslinger act’, unwantedly reminding Tony of the time he’d almost died because of the device that was also keeping him alive, he’d turn on music and mentally shut the man out. After a while, Rhodey stopped trying, and visited Tony for no other reason but to cheer him up and get his mind off of all the bad thoughts that were overruling him. But Rhodey couldn’t stay with Tony forever, and whenever he wasn’t there, Tony could feel himself fall deeper into his well of dark thoughts. He was angry, upset and anxious, and usually, anxiety was the most powerful emotion of those three. He missed the Avengers- something he’d never say out loud- and missed having them around the tower like one big family. Without them the tower was quiet. A big empty building with barely any special meaning to him. And he was afraid. Afraid that, after all that happened, he’d lost them for good. He blamed himself for everything, and didn’t realise that most of the events had happened solemnly because Steve was as stubborn as a donkey. He was angry with himself for possibly ruining one of the best things he’d had in his life.

Losing Pepper only added to that anger and frustration.

Skip two more months, and Tony had successfully isolated himself. Friday'd eventually had enough of it. It felt as if she couldn't stand seeing her creator like that any longer. So she decided to finally confront him with the hard truth by telling him he couldn't continue like this. That he had to stop blaming himself and live on. That, although it may seem impossible, he had to get over everything that happened. She told him he did the right thing, and that if the Avengers didn't come to him to apologize and take responsibility for what was not his, but their fault, they weren't worth his time. She used the part about his fear to put emphasis on how serious the situation had gotten.

Having his Artificial Intelligence confront him like that, obviously fed up with her creator’s unjustified self-loathing and all the negative emotions that were making him victim of his own mind, was eye-opening to Tony. That was the day he finally started to slowly pull himself back together again.

But what completely pulled him over the line- the reason he was eventually able to let go of everything that happened- was when Steve contacted him.

 

* * *

 

 

 Tony loosened his grip on the cord and opened his mouth to speak, but before even the first syllable could roll off his lips, all his breath was taken away as if someone had punched him right in the chest. Tony’s eyes widened and he fell to the ground, right hand clinging to the arc reactor sealed in the skin below his collarbone, the other pressed to the ground to support his weight. Tony’s stomach turned and the world faded to black, but he didn’t lose consciousness. His eyes were still wide open and he could feel the pain of his nails digging into his skin even through the fabric of his undersuit. But the world around him was gone. He couldn’t feel the snow anymore, the cold breeze had disappeared and even the fresh air had made place for an almost mouldy, empty atmosphere. All he could feel was his body, the inability to breathe and the pain that soared through his oxygen-deprived lungs.

 Flashes of memories played out in his head that made his tense body flinch, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to block them out, but to no success. Filled with horror, Tony was forced to remember the day with Ultron where Wanda had made him see his worst nightmare. He was forced to watch how Steve and the rest of the team died yet again, how Steve blamed him and told him he hadn’t done enough. Then, the monstrous aliens soaring above his head, flying through the reopened portal to earth followed by an army of Chitauri. On their way to conquer the planet and its inhabitants, this time without the Avengers to stop them, and all because Tony didn’t do more.

 And just as spontaneously as it had come, the pain disappeared, and Tony felt himself collapse to the still dark floor because of his sudden recovered ability to inhale fresh oxygen.

 Pulling his arms down- when had he curled up into a ball?- Tony blinked his eyes open carefully, anxious that the unpleasant experience might repeat itself.

 He was in his workshop in Malibu.

 Tony’s mouth opened in confusion and disbelief as he slowly stood up, alert and observant of whatever could be awaiting him. The workshop was empty. And not just cleaned up and lacking any human presence. It was actually empty.

 Tony’s workshop was usually stacked with a thousand and one things. Like his ridiculous amount of personal creations, such as the handful of old Iron Man suits and partly finished inventions. Unidentifiable, unused and recycled parts which were all scattered around the floor in a mess only he could make sense out of. Even files, data and unfinished experiments from Bruce he'd promised to finish.

 But it was all gone.

 The armour exhibits were empty, the showcase at the side of the workshop that used to proudly display his collection of cool and expensive cars looked unused- without even a speck of dirt anywhere- and the floor looked as if had been washed so much that it appeared completely new. Even the prototype of a new armour he had been working on and was supposed to be hanging on a hook from the roof was nowhere to be found.

 It looked exactly the way it had done right after the reconstruction was finished, after the events of the Mandarin where the entire mansion had been blown to bits and Tony had the house rebuild.

 ‘Friday?’

 No response.

 ‘Jarvis?’

 Silence.

 Tony scanned the entire room for any sign of life, a sign of something; anything. His eyes fell on the desk, which was empty, aside from one item. The only thing laying on there, and thus pulling his attention fairly quickly, was what looked like a memory card. Tony rotated his head slightly and approached it apprehensively, slowly reaching out for it. He took the little blue card into his hand and held it up in front of him, rotating it and scanning the device.

 He didn’t recognise it.

 Tony kneeled, gently pushed the card into one of the four fitting slots under his desk and sat down in his familiar chair, watching and waiting as the holographic screen turned on and showed him a progress bar of the card loading up. It took only a second before a new alert popped up saying _‘Access Denied’_.

 Tony hissed under his breath and started typing away on the screen, slipping into the main frame of his own computer to break through the security system protecting the card and gaining himself access to the encrypted documents. Normally, Friday would automatically be the one to do this, but without the AI around to be in charge of tasks like these it took him a couple of minutes to complete. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he was doing- Tony knew perfectly fine how to hack, could even be considered one of the most brilliant and skilled hackers in the world if he so choose to ever compete- but it had been awhile since he’d done it. Before the Avengers moved into the tower, Tony would use his skills to get into all sorts of information sources he required in that moment, hack into whatever he pleased and sometimes even did it just for kicks. But once Steve got air of this particular hobby, Tony slowly stopped doing it, due to Steve’s obvious disapproval of the entire concept. And that was years ago, so Tony needed a few minutes to get his mind back on the whole hacking process.

_Systems accessed._

 Around a dozen of files popped up out of nowhere, filling the screen with boxes full of photo’s, video’s and text, some of which containing Steve. Tony’s heart made a little flip at the sight of his husband, and he eagerly clicked on it, hoping this memory card could give him some clues as to what was going on.

 It was a video, and one that Tony immediately recognised. The screen displayed Steve, smiling warmly at something to his right, then looking straight at the camera. He was lightly pushed aside and Tony himself appeared on screen, one arm wrapped around Steve’s neck and leaning in closely, a wide smile portrayed on his face.

 This was their wedding. Or rather, the party after. Clint had insisted on filming the newly married couple, and thus had carried a camera with him the entire evening. This was at the buffet, where all the attending guests of the wedding had been invited to dine with him and Steve, serving the most delicious and amazing dishes one could imagine. Afterwards, with all the guests finally gone, aside from the Avengers and Pepper, the close group of friends held a small celebration at Malibu Mansion. It had been one of the best days of Tony’s life, one he wouldn’t forget for the world.

 Tony scrolled through the files in a hurry, praying in silence that this could give him some clues about what was going on. Information about his friends was displayed in front of him, and he skimmed right over it. He already knew all of this, all he saw was old news. Why was this here?

 ‘Where’s cap, where’s Steve?’ He whispered to himself, probably reading faster than he’s ever done in his life.

 ‘Where’s-’

 A new window popped up, displaying nothing but four words.

 CANNOT LOCATE ANY AVENGER.

 ‘...-everyone?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a fanvideo by Firenstone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sG3Eql5pek
> 
> Thanks to ok_but_first_tea for being my beta reader and editor!
> 
> And thank all of you so much for reading my story! Have a nice day! c:

**Author's Note:**

> So!! I finally uploaded a new fic again!  
> It's been a while. Like, ages. Sorry for that.  
> I never stopped writing, wrote a lot actually, but I really have this big issue that I never finish things, which is horrible and I really should learn to get over that, but as of now, I still haven't. This is also the reason I don't upload, mainly out of fear I'm left with another unfinished fic on my account. (My first Stony one is abandoned, I'm sorry, but it's horrible and there's so much wrong in it that I could never find the motivation to redo it, ever)  
> But this fic, I really want to finish! It is (heavily) inspired by a fanvideo I just adore so much, and I thought it deserved a fic, so I asked the creator for permission, and they said yes! So, I'm going to try my best to finish this, because again the video is so great and you all should totally watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sG3Eql5pek  
> It's made by Firenstone and you all should give them lots of love and like the video and subscribe to them! All credit goes to them, I just made a few changes to the storyline and added a bunch of things to make the fic as great as possible. (Hopefully!)  
> Also, lots of thanks to my best friend @ok_but_first_tea for beta reading and editing the story, being a great help and inspiration for the summary (and anything in general, you are the best!) and putting up with all shit x3  
> I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks so much if you came this far, and have a great day!


End file.
